


Stuck in Orbit

by Kariszma83



Category: Fairy Tales and Related Fandoms, Firefly
Genre: Misses Clause Challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-20
Updated: 2012-12-20
Packaged: 2017-11-21 18:59:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/601048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kariszma83/pseuds/Kariszma83
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aurora and River were roommates at the Academy. After Aurora helps Simon gets River out, Aurora is punished. Now, its River's turn to repay the favor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stuck in Orbit

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Amethyst](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amethyst/gifts).



> I truly hope you enjoy this story, the characters, and the world it's in.  
> Happy Yuletide to you, and enjoy the holiday season!
> 
> My thanks, as always, to iamtheenemy for the beta-ing. You're the best!

Aurora opened her eyes when she heard the screaming. 

“Not again”, she thought, “I’ve barely slept a full night in weeks.”

She sat up on her bed in the derelict tower that had become her home since all this had began. Aurora swung her legs over the side of the bed and walked to the window. Peering through the heavy cloth that blocked the outside light from the room, she saw a mob of people far below engaged in a massive fistfight. They were literally throwing people into the the chasm that ran the length of the planet from north to south. She stepped back from the window and let the curtain fall closed, lest they see her and discover her hiding place - women were a rare occurrence in this world and she had managed to avoid trouble thus far.

Walking towards the wooden door, Aurora grabbed a small knife and made a notch in the door frame. Stepping back, she admired the ring of notches framing the door. It almost looked like artwork. In total, the notches numbered 364. Tomorrow it would be one full year that Aurora had survived in this place.

“Only 99 more to go,” she thought to herself, ruminating on the 100 year sentence the head of the Alliance had handed to her at her sentencing. Maleficent Dracona, the current head of the Alliance Parliament, the governing force of the ‘verse, had apparently been a dear friend of Aurora’s parents long before her birth. But when she was not called upon to be Aurora’s godmother, a lifelong grudge was formed between the group. Fourteen years later when Aurora was chosen to attend the prestigious Academy, her parents hadn’t wanted her to go. In fact, they were staunch resisters of the Alliance and what they believed was going on inside The Academy, but after their sudden death in a freak accident, the choice had been made for Aurora. No foster home would take her, so off to The Academy she went.

 

Aurora had been nervous about seeing Maleficent since she was so involved in the school. But Maleficent had welcomed her with open arms and Aurora had doubted her parents’ words on the kind of person Maleficent supposedly was. She was nothing but kind to the grieving Aurora, a ploy which Aurora now knew was meant to make her complacent to the experiments of the Alliance. After all, no one was left to speak up for Aurora, and she was fairly certain Maleficent had engineered that as well.

 

Once there, Aurora had seemed to thrive, until the experiments started. They had told her she was special. They had told all of the kids that they were special and that they would serve a greater purpose through their sacrifice to the Alliance. Aurora didn’t know what kind of resolve she had in her, but something kept her from cracking under the pressure. Her roommate and best friend River Tam wasn’t so lucky. 

 

River was the smartest person that Aurora had ever met. She was also sweet, kind, generous, and fun - all the things that every girl wished she could be. But, the experiments cracked her in a way that made it hurt for Aurora to look at her. Aurora didn’t understand what was being done to them but somehow she knew for a fact that River would not survive much more of the experiments. She needed to get out. 

 

Soon after the experiments began, the two girls discovered a telepathic link they could share. They would lie in bed all night long talking about their pasts and presents, hopes and dreams. River would often talk of her brother Simon and how she’d been sending him coded messages that things weren’t right here. Aurora prayed that Simon would come and save River. She feared for her friend’s life, but she was also dismayed at the realization that there was no one left to come fight for her. No one was left to care what happened to Aurora anymore. 

 

It was all downhill for River after that. She turned into a person that Aurora didn’t even recognize any more. The hints of who she was were there somewhere, but the River she knew was trapped inside a brain meddled with to the point of insanity. So, when she somehow heard that Simon Tam was going to make an attempt to save River, Aurora participated in every way she possibly could. 

 

It had worked. Simon Tam had gotten River out, but not Aurora. She couldn’t blame him. She was nothing to him. But she was glad that River had gotten out. Aurora was called up on charges in front of the Parliament, and sentenced to one hundred years of incarceration on the planet Mèngyǎn for her part in losing the Alliance’s most valuable subject. Aurora’s body would remain on an Inner Core planet while she was placed in a perma-sleep state. Her subconscious would awake on Mèngyǎn and there she would serve her sentence in the hell that awaited her. 

 

So, ninety-nine more years to go. If she kept lying low she would survive just fine. Aurora thought back to that telepathic connection she and River had shared. She had tried to speak to River in her mind so many times in the year since she had been sent here, but to no avail. Aurora laid back down in the bed and pulled the covers up her chin and settled in. She channeled River Tam’s mind one more time before falling back into an uneasy sleep.

***

River Tam danced through the scaffolding that lined the upper areas of the Firefly class ship Serenity. She breezed past several people in the path of her barefoot, carefree dance. They reacted in different ways. Inara Serra told her to be careful on the stairs in case she should fall. Kaylee Frye called for her to come play a game. Jayne Cobb grunted and purposely knocked into her shoulder. River called back some choice words to him and laughed maniacally while running away. 

 

Suddenly, she fell to the ground and clutched at her head. There were always other people inside her head, but there was someone new. No, not new, old, but still somehow different, like a memory at the edge of her mind. Little monkeys pulled at the wisps of smoke escaping from her brain. Why were they screaming at her? She pounded her head in frustration at the intrusion. River rocked back and forth for a few minutes before freezing rigidly in place. She turned her head sharply to the left and whispered, “Aurora.”

 

***  
Aurora woke a few hours later with the undeniable stab of hunger in her stomach. She rolled out of bed and went over to the loose floorboard, where she hid what she deemed valuable. It was funny to her that this very room was an exact duplicate of her childhood bedroom. She wondered if Maleficent had engineered that as well. When she was small the precious things she had hidden in the loose floorboards were childhood treasures like her diary and candies. Now, the floorboard hid an extra knife, a lighter, and food. Those were things that were gold in this place.

 

She carefully pried open the board and peered inside. She pulled out a square shaped cloth. Peeling back the layers, Aurora looked at what was left of a large piece of what they called protein. It was enough to quell her hunger for today perhaps, but tomorrow would be a different story, and searching for things while hungry led you to making stupid mistakes. She popped the protein into her mouth and savored the taste. Not that it tasted good per se, but food was food and in this place you took what you could get. 

 

Aurora replaced the floorboard and began to get dressed to go out. She had learned very soon after arriving here the best way to survive - don’t be a woman. She saw what became of the women in this place. They lived in the worst hell that was possible, surviving only if they pleased the men that kidnapped and used them for their pleasure. Everyone knew. that you couldn’t die here, but your life could be torture. It made her question whether survival was worth it at all. Aurora pulled on a pair of loose pants, and belted them tight. She grabbed a wide piece of cloth and bound it tightly around her chest and pinned it in place. She slipped a loose men’s shirt over her shorn head, pulled her arms through and tucked it into the pants.

 

Her entire teen life, she had cursed her waif-like body. She had never gotten looks from boys - she looked too much like one herself. Now, she felt that it was the only thing allowing her to get by. It wasn’t as if the disguise really hid her gender, but if one didn’t look too closely, she could get by.

 

Aurora pulled the door open slowly and peered out. As usual, she didn’t see anyone around. No one even thought this building was inhabitable. But, she still had to be careful. She pulled the door shut and locked the padlock, pocketing the key. She slipped quietly down the stairs and out of the building, moving with a purpose. If you looked like you knew where you were going, you were less likely to be bothered, though Aurora always attracted attention looking as young as she did. 

 

She walked toward the commissary building. You could eat your meals there, but Aurora, like many others, treated it more as a food pantry, grabbing as much as was allowed and taking it to be stored in her room. The less she had to leave her room the better. 

 

She got inside the building and smiled when she saw that Digger was working. He was a lowly stooge of the Alliance - very low to end up working here, but he was kind to Aurora. He slipped her extra food whenever he could. Most of all, he always had a soft smile and friendly eyes, things that didn’t come easily here. Aurora moved to step into the food line and froze mid-step. It felt as though a ghost had moved through her. She turned her head sharply to the right and whispered, “River.”

***

River sat at the dinner table in the ship’s galley. She pulled her legs up underneath her and started talking in a singsong voice, “Aurora Borealis, Northern Lights, point the way home, find a way to get free.”

 

Jayne Cobb threw his spoon into his bowl of stew and yelled at Simon, “Feh Feh Pi Goh. Can’t you shut her up?”

 

Mal Reynolds, captain of the ship piped in grumpily, “Ni Men Dou Bi Zui. Can both of you shut up? I can’t enjoy my gorram stew with the two of you fighting. Besides, her babble aint hurtin’ nobody. We need to figure out what were gonna do. We’re like sittin’ ducks out here.”

 

Kaylee piped in quickly, “Nothin’ wrong with Serenity, Cap’n. It’s just like somethin’s holding her in place. I...I can’t explain it.”

 

Wash, the ship’s pilot, added in, “There‘s no reason we shouldn’t be movin’. There’s no lock on us, no ships anywhere near. No one’s even attempted contact with us. In fact, the only thing we’re in view of at all is a little planet off our port side.”

 

River continued to sing, stringing made up words together. She looked over at the assembled crew and said, “Aurora’s fault. Ho Tze Duh Pi Gu. Stuck until we set her free.”

 

The rest of the crew continued to argue, but River’s brother Simon, walked over to River and asked, “River? You know why the ship can’t move? Why we’re stuck here?”

 

River moved her lips as if to answer, but froze rigidly in place. Her head snapped to the left, and she whispered, “Aurora.”

***  
Aurora’s mind cleared and she shook her head to try and lose the fog that was seeming to inhibit it. Something was wrong, Aurora could feel it. Someone was inside her brain with her. Sound returned to her and she realized that Digger was speaking to her. He was standing in front of her asking if she was alright. She looked around and realized she was now drawing the attention of everyone in the room. Exactly what she spent every minute of every day trying to avoid doing. She nodded quickly at Digger, lowered her eyes and stepped further into the food line. She swung her tray down the line and picked up the maximum food allowed to her. She walked to a table against the wall and sat down to eat the hot food that wouldn’t last past today. It was disgusting. She knew it held all the necessary vitamins and nutrients meant to keep the prisoners alive, but there was no need for it to taste or look good. 

When Aurora had finished the hot mush, she took the wrapped bars and protein and packed them away in her bag. Digger slipped in behind her. He leaned over her neck on the pretense of trying to molest Aurora. His hands slipped down her sides and he breathed heavily on her neck. Aurora’s heart beat wildly in her chest though she knew it was a ruse, and she felt a flush upon her cheeks. The other Alliance lackeys laughed as Aurora protested and slapped at Digger to let go of her. 

 

Aurora felt Digger’s hot breath as he whispered to her, “There’s a bag of extra food on your left.” 

 

After a few minutes, Digger appeared to give up and walked away leering and making lewd gestures at Aurora. Aurora reached down and felt the bag that Digger had dropped on the bench next to her own bag. This was a game they often played to keep both of them out of trouble. Digger slipped her the food and under this pretense no one knew. Aurora’s face lit up in a smile. She was more grateful to Digger than he could ever possibly know. 

 

Aurora stood to leave, all food safely spirited away. She returned the tray to the dirty pile, and gave a secretive smile to Digger and ran out the door moving quickly to return to her room. She stumbled in her run as she heard a whisper. She looked around, but didn’t see anyone. She kept moving. She heard the whisper again. It was someone calling her name. Joy leapt inside her chest and she screamed into her mind, “River!”

 

The connection was faint but it was there. River was in Aurora’s mind. Aurora tried to have a conversation, but the stilted way River’s thoughts came through told her that all the Alliance had done to River’s brain had not been fixed in any way. So, Simon had not yet found a fix for what ailed River. 

 

Nevertheless, Aurora tried to get all her thoughts through to River. She needed a way off this planet. Could River help? From what Aurora could understand, River and Simon were on a spaceship called Serenity. It was a ship full of mercenaries, but they might be able to help. Also, in some strange way, their psychic link was holding the ship in place. They could not fly or move until they set Aurora free.

 

This thought actually made Aurora trip and fall. She was holding an entire spaceship in place with her psychic ability? How could that even be possible? She could be holding a spaceship in place, without even knowing she was doing it? She knew the Alliance had messed with all of their brains at the Academy, but she had no clue that this was a possibility of their tinkering. 

 

“No matter,” she smiled to herself, “This is very much to my benefit.” 

 

She continued the thought to River, “But how will you get me out of here?” Aurora cursed even asking the question. River’s speech had always been mysterious but it was an actual puzzle now to decipher the meaning behind the nonsense words that River replied to her. She needed this to be a moment of lucidity for River - for Aurora’s own sake. 

 

Over the next few hours Aurora understood, or thought she understood, the plan. She had to release the ship from her mind so that they could fly into the port to get her. But, that just brought a new problem to light. Aurora’s unconscious body was still stuck on one of the core planets. If she left this planet, she would still only be a ghost - unless she could find a way to wake up.

 

“Therein lies the problem,” thought Aurora. “How do you wake up on a planet meant to hold one prisoner in sleep?” 

 

Aurora spent every second of every day thinking of what to do. Now she possessed a renewed sense of hope that this place wouldn’t be the end of her. Every time she spoke to River, she could sense more urgency to solve the problem. The crew of the Serenity was getting very anxious to be moving again, and many of them were working on a way to set the ship free and abandon her. Aurora couldn’t let that happen. This was the only chance she was going to get to escape, and she had to succeed. The more she thought about it, the more discouraged she became. She was stuck.

 

Aurora took stock of her food supply and saw that she was down to nothing since her last food run. She decided that she’d think better on a full stomach and donned her disguise. She set off for the commissary and upon arriving, joined the food lin. She started thinking that maybe Digger would be working and his smile might cheer her up. Suddenly, it was as if she had been struck by lightning. Digger was the key. Well, maybe not Digger himself, but what he was. He was Alliance, and the workers had a portal located somewhere in the main building to transport them to and from their shifts. If she could get to the portal it would be enough to wake her up - it would have to be.

 

Aurora had been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn’t realized she walked into the burly man in front of her in line. She began to register that the man was yelling at her. She had been so lost in her thoughts that she’d hadn’t even noticed. She looked up into the man’s face, unsure of what to say. The man clearly took her lack of response as a sign of disrespect as he reached out and backhanded Aurora. She fell to the ground, her cap tumbling off. Confusedly, she sat on the ground trying to get her bearings. 

 

The look on the man’s face changed from anger to shock and again to lust as he realized Aurora’s gender. He reached down and began to pull her up whispering about the ways Aurora could make things up to him. He pulled Aurora to him, and began to kiss her sloppily, shoving his tongue into her mouth. He roamed his hands over Aurora’s body clearly expecting no resistance. Aurora pulled back from the man gently, looked into his eyes, smiled, and punched him squarely in the mouth. She wasn’t sure where that came from, but the instinct just took over and she had hit him. 

 

Aurora was glad to see blood squirt from the man’s mouth as her fist connected. Her hand hurt intensely but it was worth it. The man staggered backwards and the look of fury returned to his eyes. Aurora suddenly realized that her action may have not been the best one at this moment. She began to back away from the man and the crowd of spectators that had gathering to watch the action. The man made to grab for her, calling her filthy names. Aurora skipped a step backwards and turned on her heel and began to run. 

 

She ran in a zigzag pattern for many blocks. Every time she thought she had lost the band of men pursuing her, she heard voices calling out her location to the other men. Aurora was losing speed. Soon she would tire completely and that would be the end for her. 

 

“The only chance now,” she thought, “is to make it to the portal.”

 

Aurora tried to regain her bearings. She wasn’t even sure where she was. She ran a few more blocks trying to keep her eyes open and finally managed to spot the spire that topped the Alliance building. It was the only one left intact in the city. She focused on the spire and it gave her a second wind. She sprinted forward towards an open space at the end of the block ahead.

 

At this moment several things happened. Aurora’s heart leapt in fear as she heard the voices behind her. They were gaining on her, and fast. As she cleared the end of the buildings on this block, she realized that she was on the wrong side of the giant chasm that circumvented the city. Almostly directly across from her lay the Alliance building, separated by the giant hole.

 

Aurora froze near the edge, stopping herself in the nick of time. She looked down, across, and back. This was impossible, but there really was no choice to be made. She had to get across and it had to happen now. 

 

She stepped backwards quickly and paused. The men were no more than 50 feet from her. It was now or never. Aurora filled her lungs deeply and took off running towards the edge. She reached the edge and leapt. As she did she felt someone grab hold of the back of her shirt. She trying to stretch forward but the pull on her shirt had already killed her momentum. Aurora plummeted downwards into the chasm. She tried to reach for the edge of the cliff, a rock, anything to stop the fall, but to no avail. As she fell further down, her screams echoed wildly off the rocks surrounding her. Aurora tilted her head up for one last glance at the blue of the sky before closing her eyes for a final time. 

***

“Boo!” screamed River into Aurora’s face as she opened her eyes. Aurora pulled backwards violently, almost falling out of the chair. Simon chided River and pulled her away, handing her off to Kaylee. He approached Aurora slowly and held up his hands to show he meant no harm. He began to speak to her in a calm, careful voice using small words. 

“Why are you talking to me like that?” Aurora asked. “I’m not a child or slow.”

Her response set Simon back. “I’m sorry,” he stammered. “I had assumed I would need to...um..speak to you as I do to River. I didn’t mean to insult you.”

“Oh,” said Aurora. “I understand. River got the worst of all of us at the Academy. She was the brightest and therefore, used the most.”

Simon looked down forlornly. Aurora thought to change the subject to something more pressing.

“Uh,” she started, “Where am I, and how did I get here?

Simon seemed to wake from the trance and turned to look at her again saying, “This is the Serenity. She’s a spaceship. This,” he gestured to the number of people assembled near the open doorway and outside the room watching through the windows, “is the crew.”

Aurora smiled and gave a tentative wave. Only River and another younger girl waved back. 

Simon continued, “As to how you got here, it was your own genius plan that saved you.”

“My plan?” said Aurora confused. 

“Yes,” replied Simon matter of factly. “You jumped off the cliff.”

“Well, I didn’t mean to jump off the cliff, I meant to jump over the chasm. But, what does that have to do with anything anyhow. Why aren’t I dead from the fall?” she questioned.

 

“Oh,” Simon said clearly confused, “I assumed you had planned it. You can’t hit the ground when you’re falling in a dream. You fell off the cliff and instead of impact upon meeting the ground, you woke up. Once that happened your psychic hold on the ship let go and we scooped you up.”

 

“Not that you had a part in any scooping,” grumbled a large man in a red and orange cap.

 

“Scoop, scuff, rough, tough, sleep, sheep.” sang River dancing in a circle around Kaylee.

 

Simon spoke over the sounds of his sister’s babbling, “Well, regardless of who did the actual scooping, you are off Mèngyǎn and safe - for the time being.”

 

“Thank you for rescuing me,” said Aurora looking at the assembled crew. 

 

A tall man Aurora took for the captain stepped forward and said, “Seems to me little lady that you did your own rescuin’. We’re just providin’ a ride. Now, get some rest and in the morning, we’ll talk about you aim to do with your life. 

 

The man left the room, and the others all slowly dispersed leaving Aurora alone with Simon. She snuggled down in the reclined chair and closed her eyes. She opened them suddenly, and looked at Simon tentatively. 

 

He spoke up quickly, “they may seem rough, but no one will hurt you here. You are safe Aurora.”

 

“That’s not what I’m afraid of,” Aurora replied, “What if I go to sleep, and I wake up back there?”

 

“I can assure you that you will not go back there. You are really here, not that it’s any kind of paradise,” he said chuckling at his own attempt at a joke. 

Aurora smiled at him and let her eyes fall shut again. As she drifted off to a peaceful sleep a single thought drifted through her mind, “It’s finally over.”


End file.
